One Girl's Wish
by Shintou01
Summary: "Contrary to what people say, my name is not John. My name is Sarah and I am a magical girl." "Being a magical girl, it's...it's a bloody and dangerous life for a child, but for what it has given me, I wouldn't trade it even for a long safe life." - Excerpts from the diary of Sarah Anderson.
1. Chapter 01

A/N: As a quick note, I was inspired to create this story after a weekend binge of Madoka-series followed by the Rebellion movie. As a result of not having a section for "stories inspired by "…" fandom", I am posting this story in the PMMM section here even though no actual characters or events from Madoka will be involved in this story. I hope that no one will mind, but if people want me to take it down, I will.

* * *

~January 18, 2010~

"John? John Anderson?"

Sarah slowly raised her hand and mumbled a low "here" before the teacher moved onto the next name on the roster. As she lowered her hand though, she noticed it lightly shaking and tried to take a deep breath. A part of her wanted to scream out that her name was Sarah and not John, but she buried that part as quickly as she could. She couldn't afford to draw any attention to _that_ part of herself right now. Instead, she got out her notebook as she waited for the teacher to finish checking the roster so that they could start class.

Eventually, the bell rang for lunch time and Sarah quickly shoved her notebook into her backpack as she left the room. She slowly made her way through the crowded hallways as she tried to get to the cafeteria as quickly as possible. After all, the sooner that she could get there, the faster that she could eat and get away from the crowd. She finally spied the door to the cafeteria and walked inside only to see the cafeteria was already crowded. She did what she could to hide her uneasiness as she hefted her backpack up a little higher on her shoulders and got into the first line that she saw.

"Here you go. Um, are you even listening?"

Sarah heard the voice and flinched as she glanced up and realized that one of the workers was holding out a tray to her. She quickly nodded as she took the tray and grabbed the first few random pieces of food that she saw on the counter before paying for them. Now, she just had to find somewhere to sit so that she could eat and then get the hell out of the cafeteria. She looked around, but it seemed like every seat was already taken. Eventually though, she finally spied a table with only two people–both of them, girls–sitting at it. She quickly made her way over to the table and asked, "um, do you mind if I sit here too?"

"Not at all," the girl on the left replied.

Sarah nodded her thanks as she sat down on the opposite side of the table from them.

"You're…John, right?" the girl on the right asked.

She nodded. "Ye–yeah. How did you know?"

"I sat behind you in class earlier," she replied matter-of-factly as she brushed a few strands of her shoulder-length brown hair away from her face, "anyway, my name's Alice and my friend here is Nicole."

"Nice to meet you both," Sarah replied, her mind currently split on what to pay attention to: Nicole and Alice, her food, or the crowded cafeteria.

* * *

Sarah sighed to herself as she took out her phone and checked the date. February 08. Three weeks since she had started school at the academy. Three weeks of hell of being called by the wrong name. She knew that she couldn't blame anyone at the school though. After all, it wasn't as if she was out to anybody at all besides herself sadly. As a result, the staff called her by her _legal_ name and sex. As for the other students though, they just did it based on what they could physically see.

"Hey John!"

She paused in her steps and turned around as she heard that only to find Nicole and Alice exiting the school's main building from behind her. She smiled a little and waved her hand as she waited for the two of them to reach her. She was glad that she had managed to become friends with them. That was perhaps the only thing that had helped to keep her sane during the past three weeks of hell. "Hey Nicole. Hey Alice," she replied as the two of them finally reached her.

"So, got any plans for today?" Alice asked as she zipped up her coat.

"Well, I was planning on just heading home and getting on the Internet for a couple of hours," Sarah admitted as the three of them left the school and began to head east towards the town's mall where the nearest subway station was located, "why?"

"Because we were thinking about stopping by the mall and seeing about getting a copy of Star Ocean: The Last Hope."

"I thought that game came out last year?"

"Yeah, the version for the 360, but this is a brand new version just for the PS3," Alice explained.

"It's supposed to have a few improvements over the original version, as well as dual audio tracks," Nicole added after a moment.

"Oh," Sarah replied before she brightened a little, "mind if I come along then?"

"Of course we don't, you dork," Alice said with a grin, "after all, why do you think that we were asking about your plans for today?"

Sarah sheepishly smiled a little and chuckled nervously. "Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. Now come on, let's get there before the store closes."

* * *

"Star Ocean: The Last Hope International Edition. Can't wait to get back home and pop this game in," Alice said, grinning as the three of them walked away from the store.

"Don't you have homework though?" Nicole lightly teased.

"Yeah, yeah, but game first then homework."

Sarah couldn't help but smile a little as she listened to Alice and Nicole talk until she saw something race by them out of the corner of her eye. By the time that she had jerked her head towards that side, it was already long gone. She wondered what it had been for a moment. A dog maybe? No, it couldn't have been. It didn't move anything like any dog that she had ever seen.

"John?"

Sarah snapped her head back and saw Alice and Nicole standing several feet ahead of her and looking back at her. She chuckled nervously as she realized that she had stopped moving when she had been paying attention to whatever that thing had been. "I'm okay. Just thought that I saw something," she explained before she caught back up with them.

"Oh, okay," Alice replied as the three of them continued to make their way towards the subway station so that they could get home before it got too dark.

As they finally reached the subway station and swiped their cards though, Nicole suddenly froze in her steps.

"What's wrong, Nicole?" Sarah asked as she glanced over her shoulder at her friend.

"Can't you guys hear it?"

"Hear what?" Alice asked before suddenly screaming as every pane of glass in the subway shattered followed by some kind of howl that sent shivers down Sarah's spine.

"Wha–what was that?" Sarah asked before she suddenly heard a voice speaking from somewhere around them. It was soft, unlike the howl earlier, yet she could hear it as clear as day.

" _ **It's coming.**_ "

"What's coming?" Alice called out as Sarah realized that she wasn't the only one that could hear the voice.

" _ **There is no time to explain. You must make a contract with me.**_ "

"Contract? What the hell are you talking about?" Sarah asked as she heard another howl in the distance. Whatever the creature it was…it was getting closer.

" _ **I will explain later. Please, make a contract with me before it is too late.**_ "

"This is a dream. It's got to be," Nicole whispered before a third howl could be heard and every light in the subway went out, plunging them into pitch-blackness.

"Oh…shit," Sarah mumbled as she saw three pairs of red eyes staring at them from within the darkness.

" _ **Please! You're out of time! You must make a contract now!**_ "

As one of the pairs of red eyes lunged at Sarah, she closed her eyes and called out to the mysterious voice. After a few moments, she realized that she wasn't dead and slowly opened her eyes to see that everything was quiet around her. She glanced around, but she couldn't find Nicole or Alice. She also didn't see a single pair of red eyes anywhere in the darkness still around her.

" _ **Thank you.**_ "

"What?"

" _ **For calling out to me for assistance.**_ "

"Who are you?" she asked.

" _ **Once upon a time, I went by many names but you may call me Cypher,**_ " the voice said right before Sarah could hear what sounded like paws on concrete and looked down at her feet only to see a small white cat with black paws.

"Okay _Cypher_ , but what happened? Where am I? Where are Nicole and Alice?"

" _ **You are in a trans-dimensional bubble right now. Essentially, you are outside of time as you humans understand it. It was the only thing that I could think of to keep you safe. As for your friends. They are also in their own bubbles right now. They are just as safe as you. I cannot keep these bubbles active for long though. I need you to make a contract with me so that you can save yourself and your friends from the creatures that you saw.**_ "

"…this is so messed up," Sarah mumbled under her breath before glancing down at the small cat, "okay fine, how do I make a contract with you?"

" _ **Just ask me for the power to protect yourself and your friends. Nothing more or less.**_ "

Sarah had a bad feeling about this, but she didn't really have a choice from what she could tell. "Fine, give me the power to protect myself and my friends!" she yelled without knowing why she was even yelling. A moment later, she felt herself collapse to the ground and began screaming. It felt like every inch of her body was on fire. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't do anything but scream and scream and scream.

" _ **The bubble is fading. Sarah, rise to your feet. You must fight.**_ "

As those words echoed in her ears, Sarah felt the fiery pain coursing through her body suddenly freeze. It was still there, but it felt like it was a million miles away now. She slowly climbed to her feet and as she did so, she nearly fell back down to the ground. She caught herself though and was able to stand on her feet finally just as she saw a pair of red eyes only inches from her face. As if on instinct, she ducked just in time as the creature lunged towards her causing it to barely miss her. Before it could recover though, Sarah felt her body go on auto-pilot and she reached out in front of her with her right hand. With a flick of her wrist, she saw a bright light and felt something heavy suddenly appear in her hand. When the light dimmed, she felt her eyes widen as she realized that she was holding a frickin' _sword_. Just then though, she heard a growl and gripped the sword in both hands as she twirled on the spot just in time to catch the creature as it lunged for her throat. She heard a cry and a tearing sound before she pulled her sword back before swinging again and again and again.

With the final swing, she finally heard the creature give off a loud shriek and felt her sword disappear from her hand before she realized that the darkness was beginning to recede. At first all she could see was the floor around her, but soon she could begin to make out the rest of the subway station. Eventually, she even saw Alice and Nicole as well even though all she could think of was about what the hell that they were wearing. Alice was wearing what looked like something out of Sailor Moon except with more frills and knee high boots. Nicole on the other hand was wearing some kind of frill covered vest with a knee length skirt and heels. There was also the fact that both of their hairstyles were completely different from just a few minutes ago. Alice's hair that was normally down to her shoulders when she braided it was now flowing behind her down to her knees. At the same time, Nicole's hair that normally reached to just below her ears in a short bob was now in a braid that extended down to about her waist.

"John?"

Sarah heard Alice's voice and realized that the two of them were staring at her. She realized why after a moment as she glanced downwards. She felt her eyes widen as she realized that she was wearing a similar outfit to theirs: a girl's dress shirt underneath a bustier that was holding up breasts that were _not_ there just minutes before, a short skirt, and boots that reached about halfway up to her knees. As she continued to stare at her own body, she suddenly reached up to feel of her head and realized that her own short shaggy hair was not only done up in twin tails but now reached nearly down to her hips. "Wha…what's going on?" she asked.

" _ **Each of you verbally signed a contract with me. As for your appearance, it has been changed for each of you to better reflect your role as a magical girl. You can think of these forms as uniforms,**_ " Cypher said as he walked towards them, his paws echoing off the concrete floor.

"Magical…girls?" Sarah mumbled as she fell to her knees and tried to make sense of just what the hell was going on.

"What the hell's a magical girl?" Alice asked as her and Nicole both rushed over to Sarah's side.

" _ **Protectors.**_ "

"Protectors of what?" Alice countered while Nicole lightly shook Sarah's shoulders.

"John? John, are you okay?" Nicole asked only for Sarah to tense up at the words.

" _ **Protectors of yourselves and the rest of the human race. You are the light that keeps the darkness at bay.**_ "

"Why can't somebody else do it? We're just kids!" Alice asked, not even realizing that she was screaming.

" _ **There is no reason to yell, Alice. Yes, there are others who could protect the human race, but they have not yet signed a contract with me. Now, I will see each of you tomorrow,**_ " Cypher said before Sarah's body suddenly felt as if it had been completely drained of energy. As her eyes closed though, the last thing that she saw was Alice and Nicole's bodies crumpling to the ground as if their bodies were being drained just as hers.


	2. Chapter 02

~February 09, 2010~

"…mmph…" Sarah mumbled groggily as she slowly opened her eyes and saw a very familiar cream-colored ceiling staring back at her. She stared at the ceiling for a moment longer before she remembered what had happened. She quickly threw the covers off of herself and ran her hands up and down her body only to realize that it was her normal body…her normal _male_ body. She felt herself start shaking as she started talking to herself. "It was just a dream, Sarah. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream." She began crying, but she didn't know why. At least…not for sure. Part of her thought that it was relief over those creatures in the darkness not being real. Another part though thought that it was sorrow over the magical girl part not being real. A chance to have the body that she felt like she should have been born with and it was nothing but a damn dream.

" _ **Sarah? Why are you crying?**_ "

She felt her breath hitch in her throat at the sound of that voice and saw Cypher staring at her from the chair in front of her computer. "You…then everything–"

" _ **Yes, it was real. You are a magical girl, Sarah Anderson.**_ "

"What…what happened to us yesterday?"

" _ **You all fainted after your fight yesterday. I transported each of your bodies back home so that you would be safe until morning and would not rouse suspicions among your families.**_ "

Sarah glanced down at her hands at that. "Cypher?"

" _ **Yes?**_ "

"Why do I look like _me_ again?"

" _ **As I said yesterday, the transformed state that each of you were in is the fighting form of a magical girl. I said specifically that those forms could be thought of as uniforms. When you fell unconscious yesterday, you returned to your normal form. Your body could no longer hold the form of a magical girl at that point.**_ "

"…how can I get it back?" she asked although she had a feeling that it sounded more like a plea. She was even more certain that it had come out as a plea when she saw what looked like Cypher's imitation of a human smile.

" _ **Feel under your shirt.**_ "

Sarah put one of her hands down the top of her shirt and touched something cold. She grabbed the object with her fingers and pulled it out from underneath her shirt and felt her eyes widen as she looked at it. It was some kind of amulet with a ruby embedded in the center with writing all around it although she didn't have a clue what it said. After a moment, she noticed the loop of leather that acted as a chain just as Cypher began to speak again.

" _ **Now, all you have to do is focus on the jewel embedded in the amulet. Focus your attention on it and feel the energy inside it. Feel it tickle the tips of your fingers.**_ "

Sarah did what she was told and began to focus on the jewel. After a few moments, she began to feel her surroundings become distant to her as if all that existed was just her and the power inside the jewel. She felt the energy leaking from the jewel and had to keep herself from giggling as it brushed against her fingers.

" _ **Now, grab ahold of the energy. Grab it and don't let go.**_ "

She suddenly clenched her hand tighter around the amulet and she felt the fiery pain from yesterday again, but this time it suddenly froze before it could even begin to hurt her. Just like yesterday though, she could still feel it although this time it felt almost kind of comforting in a strange way.

" _ **Now, pull your attention back from the jewel. Release your grip on the jewel, but don't let go of the energy.**_ "

Sarah slowly let go of the amulet and felt it drop to her chest. As she did so, she felt her surroundings suddenly come alive to her. The air, the feel of the bed against her back, the light coming through the window–to her, it felt like her senses being reborn.

" _ **Okay, now look down.**_ "

Sarah did so and couldn't help but begin crying tears of what she presumed to be joy as she saw the clothes and body that she had seen yesterday. After a few moments, she was able to finally stop crying and undid the ribbons that held her hair up, causing the twin tails to fall down into a waterfall of hair that covered her body down to her hips. She ran her hands through the long locks before glancing down at the bustier and skirt, knowing from what she had looked at on the net, exactly what was underneath them.

"John! Are you up yet?"

"Oh shit…" she mumbled as she heard her dad's voice. "Yea…yeah! I'm up! Just getting ready to head to school!" she finally managed to yell back after a few moments. With that done, she listened for footsteps and was glad when she didn't hear any outside her room. She glanced down at herself and realized that no matter how much she wanted to remain as she was right now that she had to get ready for school. "Cypher?"

" _ **Just let go of the energy.**_ "

Sarah nodded her thanks and saw the clothes, the hair, and the body swapped for her normal self in a quick flash of light. She felt her hands begin to shake again and tried to keep them steady as she told herself that she could make it through the rest of the day as John yet again like always. She slowly got off of the bed and made her way to her closet before grabbing a random t-shirt and pair of blue jeans. As she began to take off her clothes though, she froze as she finally realized that Cypher was still there in her computer chair.

" _ **Do you want me to leave while you change?**_ "

Sarah shook her head. "No, I just…could you maybe just look away? I mean, at least until I'm done?"

" _ **Of course.**_ "

"Thank you," Sarah replied as she stripped off her clothes and began to pull on her new ones before a thought came to her mind. "Cypher?"

" _ **Yes?**_ "

"Yesterday and today…you keep calling me Sarah. Why?" she asked and could have sworn that she could _feel_ Cypher smiling even though she could only see his back.

" _ **Because it is your name, is it not? If you wish though, I could instead call you by the name the people of this world know you as…John.**_ "

Sarah bit her lip at the way her male name rolled off his tongue and had to force herself to focus on zipping up her blue jeans as she mumbled under her breath, "I don't want to be called John."

" _ **Then I will refer to you as Sarah.**_ "

Sarah nodded as she finally finished changing clothes and headed into the bathroom at the far side of her room. As she went to work on brushing her teeth as well as the rest of her morning routine, she heard Cypher talking again.

" _ **In regards to your question a minute ago, Sarah, you yourself revealed your name. Before yesterday, I had been following each of you to determine whether your essence was strong enough to handle the duties of a magical girl. And you, Sarah, have a tendency to speak your name over and over when you believe yourself to be alone.**_ "

"Essence?" she asked, subconsciously feeling her body freeze up at his words about 'following' each of them without any of them knowing.

" _ **Inner strength. Determination. Willpower. Do you understand these concepts?**_ "

"Um, yeah, I suppose so."

" _ **Good. Then you can think of essence as being a physical manifestation of those concepts. The pendant that you now wear is a conduit for your essence to flow into the jewel and mix with the energy there that allows a physical transformation into your form as a magical girl.**_ "

"Okay, I think that I understand," Sarah said as she left the bathroom and noticed that Cypher still had his back turned to her, "and, um, feel free to turn back around if you want."

" _ **Good.**_ "

With that one word, Sarah watched as Cypher jumped down from the chair and walked slowly towards her. "Um, where are you going?" she asked, although she had a feeling that she knew exactly where he was planning on going.

" _ **To your destination. School. Academy, as you call it.**_ "

"Why?"

" _ **Because your fellow magical girls will be there. I need to discuss things with them as I have with you and explain what I require of each of you. And do not worry, no one else will notice my presence beyond you, Nicole, and Alice. My very existence is masked to those whose essence is anchored and locked deep inside their minds.**_ "

"Okay," Sarah mumbled as she left her room and began to head downstairs so that she could grab her backpack and her shoes before heading off for school.


End file.
